The invention relates to load-carrying deck structures, and in particular to a deck structure of advantageous construction whereby framing members of modular deck panels serve as structural members in the assembled deck. In a particular embodiment, the invention is concerned with decks for marine environments, such as floating docks which are subjected to cyclical movements and stresses, and to a system for interconnecting deck planks and the modular panels without any welds.
Docks and other deck structures have often been formed of aluminum, particularly aluminum extrusions assembled together. Typically alluminum slats ran the full length of the structure, with transverse structural members underneath the slats a appropriate spacings. The assembly has conventionally been by welding. However, in many cases the welding is not reliable over time, since repeated stresses will form cracks and eventually failures in the welds. This is especially true in marine environments, where docks, ramps, gangplanks and other such structures are always subjected to the cyclical movements and stresses associated with the movements of the water surface.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems of weld failures due to cyclical stresses in metal deck and dock structures, and to provide simple, modular-type deck structures formed of panel modules which are very efficiently built and assembled to each other, without welds.